Judas96

Hi All,

I have a 20 gal tank, which I am trying to cycle with the hearty Tiger Barb.
I have six of them in the tank now, the water is getting white cloudy, as expected, etc.

However, I have noticed that they take turns doing head stands in a corner of the tank. I know there's some stress due to the new tank, nitrate cycle, etc. But is anything else causing this behaviour? It looks like they are having some serious problems, but then a few hours later, they're swimming around perfectly, and a different one is doing the headstand.

Any thoughts/experiences?

- Doug, NYC

Butterfly

Have you tested your water for Ammonia, Nitrite or Notrates? If not you need to do so as soon as possible. Sounds like some serious problems going on there.
Carol

jim55379

I have 4 of my own and they are pretty tough. In fact they were the last of my fish to die when my first bunch got IcK and quit eating and died one by one. that blue medicine is about as good as spitting in the tank.. my current fish have ick again this time in a 20 gal tank instead of a 10. I notice my tiger's were doing that headstand thing a couple of days ago. At first it looks like they are dead then they are fine. Well I see some white spots on them now so put them in a seperate tank and hope I can save them. ONe of my catfish died today. Paid 10 dollars for them both. I think Its just a matter of time before they all die again. Sorry I can't help you more. I would look at their tail and fins very closely with yoiur aquarium light. I suspect they may have Ick. Let me know what you find out..

Kiyo

I have an albino Tiger barb who always does head stands. I've moved hime between a couple tanks because of his insessent fin nipping. The tanks are in general fairly healthy and he has seemed healthy and full of vigour but he still does head stands when he stops swimming for an instant.

I've recently added another tiger barb to the tank who has also picked up this problem and I really can't figure it out. has anyone else seen this in other appearently healthy tiger barbs??

Kiyo

kalika

I had a 40g tank a few years back with nothing but tiger barbs in it and they all did that. I had called the fish store and they said that Tiger barbs do that when they are unhappy. Something in the water is bugging them. I ended up losing all of mine. They nipped fins and all got fin rot and I treated them but no matter what I did and how clean I kept the water, they still did the headstand thing. I wish you luck. They are supposed to be very hardy and should be able to adapt. My problem was I couldn't keep the pH in my tank stable because I was trying to make it softer by adding some chemical the lfs gave me but it just kept fluctuating. I can only think now that if I had just given them time to adjust, they would have been ok. Other than what happened to me, I can't tell you much. Maybe if you look under the species specific boards you may be able to find useful information about Tiger Barbs.

vin

Sounds like they are experiencing problems from the cycle....The toxins will make them slowly go mad because of the lack of oxygen caused by the build up of ammonia and nitrites. Water changes... frequently...It will probably slow down the cycle some, but it may help the fish.

Kiyo

I starved them for a day or so and then fed them peas as reccomended for swim bladder disease. They used to be activally swimming against thier own boyancy; now they seem almost neutrally boyant the equalibrium is still off. It could be a mini cycle or maybe my tank hasn't quite cyled yet. The tank is only about a month and a half old and I recently treated for ick (salt and when that didn't work the green stuff). The only reason I don't think it's a mini cycle is that I have 2 baby angels that seem to be flourishing.

Kiyo

sue

Hi Doug

I have six tiger barbs ive had them for about 4 months now and all mine take turns in standing on their heads. They will go to the corner at the back of the tank and even though they are not right at the bottom they look down towards the gravel as if doing a headstand and sometimes they shake their body's while doing a headstand quite often there's 3 or 4 doing it at the same time i don't think there is anything wrong with them mine seem happy enough... anyway good luck with ur problems cheer sue